Tess demonstrates some best practices and a multi-barrier process for packaging food for short and long term storage in mylar bags (or large food grade buckets) with oxygen absorbers, a vacuum seal, and a heat seal.

Tess demonstrates some best practices and a multi-barrier process for packaging food for short and long term storage in mylar bags (or large food grade buckets) with oxygen absorbers, a vacuum seal, and a heat seal. With proper storage techniques the shelf life of your food preps can exceed 20 years for most dry goods like rice, wheat, sugar, beans, oats, wheat and pasta.

This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on April 4th, 2011

Well done! I just added to my hurricane/inflation preps, and am making room for the canned goods in the pantry. After that, I’ll need to dig out the vacuum sealer, once my dry goods have been frozen long enough to kill store critters.

Glad to see some airtime devoted to this. Thank you for sharing this. As a new site visitor trying to get a grip on long term food storage, I appreciate it.

My only disappointment is in the interviewer! She was in a classic ‘television hurry,’ interrupting you several times with additional ‘next topic’ questions and showing little genuine interest in your replies. You bore it well, but I admit I wanted to smack her. Bad form, Fox. It’s about the guest, not the host’s ability to get to the next segment.

I am so thankful that some main stream media is covering this topic. Kudos to FOX! It is so important! We are expecting our mylar bags via UPS today! So excited to pack some things away so we are prepared.

It was a great experience! I wish I could have spoken longer. My only regret it that I didn’t get a chance to mention that people need to start viewing storing food as an investment into their future.

While I was their I met another fellow prepper who told me that he had put up 60 lbs. of food a few nights ago. I was so excited to hear that. It’s all about buying a little at a time and growing your food pantry.

I really did have a good time, and I believe that the message got out.

Hello. I live in Romania. We can not get such as silica or oxygen absorbing compounds. Yet, I want to ensure that we have food preserved for a very long time, not just the usual one year turn around that comes from having a small farm. So,what can I do to keep food in good condition, but using natural products or procedures. And yes, I preserve food in jars using hot and cold pack, also pressure cooking, salting meat, preserving meat such as sausage in jars by pouring liquid pork fat over it. I dry food too. Quite a lot of it. Also keep root vegetables in a root cellar. This is mid-April and I still have about 10 pails of apples that were keep in a cool room (separate of course from the vegetables) and they are still nice enough to eat fresh. I buy canned goods, but don’t want to spend the money on commercially prepared foods, and also what we grow has not been treated with chemicals while it grew, and it isn’t full of unnecessary sugar.

So back to the question, how do I preserve food such as rice, wheat, corn, everything, so that it will keep for at least thre or four years without eventually getting full of bugs or simply breaking down.

CO2 or Nitrogen pack takes care of any critters. There are YouTube videos on how to do this. Note that CO2 will kill your wheat or other germinating seed. Still good to eat just no good for sprouting or planting.

Terrific clip with very much needed information. Any info on how to spot if food has gone bad once in these bags? Also in the event some have to store in basements and happen to be flooded is there danger of water damage (condensation) once in the bags. Have you tested this? Just asking as I know that some people have been flooded lately that have never been flooded before or just to have the information.

I started some time ago but slow and need to really get into this. No family,very few friends and only one neighbor that I know of is doing any kind of preparation for long term and I really fear for what will happen if things go they way some are saying.

Also very smart to have on hand food storage and other in undisclosed location.
We need more of these types of clips that make people feel that they too can do it and not so overwhelmed. Thank you for sharing the info and thank you Fox for making it availalbe.

I recently located a company that has many soups and meals already portioned and packaged in mylar with a 15-25yr shelf life. 354 meals for apx $357 (can’t figure out their portions are quedstionable) comes with one to serve, one to save and one to share????.

My concern is that these packets seem to need a lot of water – so if you don’t have a good source for clean water that will be a problem. I was planning to order a year supply and I will also try to do this myself. I’m sure it will be much cheaper and perhaps I can help family members prepare – just in case it becomes necessary to help them. Buys me some peace of mind. Where can you buy the sealer?

I tried dehydrating bannanas and apples for the first time but not sure what I did wrong since three days latter they were sticky and smelled and not what I would call dried (used a new dehydrater, followed instructions but results were not desirable).

Strawberrys take care of themselves and will come up every year (mine were planted about 25 yrs ago and spread and multiplied), blueberries, rasberries, grapes will also be planted this year. These will come back by themselves with very little care – plant, watch them grow and enjoy. Taking into consideration of raising chickens – though I do not have the ideal area for this.

I’m a visual person and I would love to see a hands on video on the raising and care, cleaning feeding of chickens in cold climate city area conditions.

Thanks for the comments. No matter what type of food you decide to store, you will need water. Water is your most important asset. Simply put, without it you are toast. Although it’s good to have a good storage of bottled water on hand, investing in a good water filter or water treatment system for long term emergencies is a great contingency plan.

I love to dehydrate foods. On Mondays, I go through my refrigerator, my fruit bowl and out in my garden to see what I can dehydrate. I save so much money doing this. I never have any over ripe or rotten fruits and veggies to throw away. And when I dehydrate them, they last 12 more months!

I love that you are growing a garden. Knowing where your food source comes from is the way to go these days, not to mention a more economical route.

Thanks again for your great comment. And I will take your suggestion on future videos into consideration.

If you live in an apartment where water acquisition might be problematic, get a water bed. If the bed is 3 feet wide by 6 feet long by 8 inches thick, it will contain about 135 gallons of water (and that will weigh over 1000 pounds so watch where you put it <g>).

You also might want to learn to make colloidal silver. It kills all the bad stuff in your drinking water and in your body. A rechargeable battery (solar?), some wire, two silver electrodes and a jar is about all you need. Again, you can find YouTube videos on the subject.

Correct me if I am wrong, but there are a lot of apartment complexes that do not allow water beds. Another option would be to purchase a bath tub water storage container such as this one sold at the American Red Cross or a water Bob

“Any info on how to spot if food has gone bad once in these bags? Also in the event some have to store in basements and happen to be flooded is there danger of water damage (condensation) once in the bags. Have you tested this? Just asking as I know that some people have been flooded lately that have never been flooded before or just to have the information.”

If your food has gone bad, you will know. It will either feel wet, look different, have microbial activity growing on it, have a smell to it or you will see bug infestations. This article, may help you learn more about your Emergency Foods Worst Enemies and learn ways to avoid them.

I live in area prone to hurricanes and sometimes flooding, so I am taking multiple precautions with my food storage.

1. I use a multi-barrier approach to packing my food. So, I packed and sealed the food in mylar bags which are inside food grade plastic containers. Once a year I inspect all of my food containers to make sure they have not been compromised in any way.

2. I have multiple areas where I keep my food storage pails to ensure that if the food happens to become damaged from water, not all of it is lost.

3. I do not keep any food on the floor. We have the pails stacked atleast 6 inches off the floor.

If you suspect that your food has been compromised, the best thing to do is to open it up and check. Here are some guidelines that I found for salvaging food in plastic containers:

Rigid plastic containers

Salvage rigid plastic containers only if:

they have not been submerged in water or other liquids.

the product is not contaminated.

if the soil can be removed and it does not involve the closure.

there is no rust on the closure.

the container is not defective.

the closure is not defective or rusted and pitted and the seal is not improper.

You wrote, “Hello. I live in Romania. We can not get such as silica or oxygen absorbing compounds. I want to ensure that we have food preserved for a very long time, not just the usual one year turn around that comes from having a small farm. So,what can I do to keep food in good condition, but using natural products or procedures.”

Using diatomaceous earth when prepping and sealing food containers will keep the bugs off your food. They are organic and are safe to use on food. Use 1 cup to each 25 pounds of food. Some have had success with repelling bugs by using bay leaves. They add a few bay leaves to their food stuffs before sealing the food. My husband and I use this method and it seems to help.

Also, a lot of people who can dip their finished cans in wax to seal the edges to prevent bugs from getting in.

The best way to store self rising flour is to store it like you would any other flour product – in a temperature controlled environment away from food enemies such as a sunlight, oxygen and moisture. To read more on your food’s worst enemies, click here.

Keep in mind that self rising flour has a shelf life of 1 year. After that, it will begin to lose its potency, so consider making your own. To make your own, combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.